Another Banquet?
by Sailor Song
Summary: Tohru and Kyo are expecting their first child, but when she goes into labor prematurely, fears arise that a new banquet is about to begin.


SPOILER WARNING: Seriously, all the warnings. This takes place after the manga, so spoilers apply to that and both versions of the anime. And just in case, warning for the Fruits Basket Another series too (I haven't read them, but I am aware of the content).

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I didn't think I'd be writing a new fic so soon, but when I finished my Zelda story, I started watching the Fruits Basket reboot and OH. MY. KAMI. It's so beautiful! So, I'm taking a break from worldbuilding, editing, and writing my original works to knock out this one-shot fic. I decided to skip using the Japanese honorifics (-san, -chan, -kun, etc), just for ease of writing, but I did try to keep the names for Kazume (Kyo's adopted dad) accurate.

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Title: Another Banquet  
Author: Sailor Song  
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"Would you stop pacing the room, you stupid cat?"

"AHHHH WHO ARE YOU CALLING-" Kyo cut his scream of mid-sentence and let out a breath. He hadn't had an outburst like that in years, thanks to her and the broken curse. With a sad glance at her closed hospital room door, he said in a calmer voice, "Thanks for coming, Yuki."

His gray haired cousin gave him a smile. "We are family, aren't we?" There was an awkward silence between them for some time. In the years since they had finished high school, the deep hatred that had once existed between the pair had somewhat healed. It was mostly Tohru's doing at the beginning, but at some point, the two of them had found themselves communicating from time-to-time without her encouragement. "So did Hatori say how long this examination would take? He's been in there a while."

"No. Before he kicked me out, he only told me to go home, but I couldn't… how could Iea..." He sat a couple of chairs over and dropped his head in his hands as he fought to control the emotions that he had been trying to suppress since the night his wife had gone into labor and the baby had been born

Two months early.

"You know, this doesn't mean anything," Yuki said to him. "Hatori told me on the drive here it could be any number of things."

"Like what?"

"For one, her fall because of the cliff a few years back might have torn something they didn't catch at the time," he replied. Seeing it didn't help, he tried a more practical point. "In any case, you aren't the first Sohma to have a child since the curse broke."

Kyo suddenly looked up. "Do any of the others know?"

Yuki shook his head. "You only called Sensei when it started, right? Sensei called Hatori before he called me. We all thought it best to keep it quiet until we knew for sure that… that Tohru was okay. Besides, you're on edge with just three of us here. You know that we couldn't have prevented the others from coming if they knew."

"Yeah," Kyo replied. "And she would have felt guilty for making them worry."

"You're right." Despite the circumstances, Yuki couldn't help but smile as he remembered the sweet and kind Tohru Honda he had lived with for nearly three of the most important years of his life. Now a Sohma, she had changed some, as they all had as they matured into adulthood. Nevertheless, her compassion and empathy had not left her. "So, have you been up to see him yet?"

Kyo flinched. "Once. When Tohru was sleeping, Shishou made me go. That hair. It's… it's… just like mine."

Yuki wanted to say something to try to comfort Kyo, but he was beginning to wonder if it was just the curse weighing on his cousin's mind. It didn't matter though, because the door to Tohru's room opened. Hatori emerged, but before he could finish saying, "Tohru's asking for you," Kyo had already blown past him. He shook his head and turned to say, "Yuki, you can go in too if you want."

He wasn't sure he could handle much more of Kyo's stressed out anxiety at the moment. "Are you going to check on their son?"

"Yes."

Yuki looked to the room. "I'd like to join you. To meet the newest Sohma, I mean. They need a minute anyway." Lovey-dovey as they were, something he hoped that would never change. They deserved happiness.

Upstairs in the NICU, Yuki didn't have to look hard to figure out which baby was Kyo and Tohru's. It wasn't Sensei's staring, nor the incubator. No, it was the mop of bright orange hair.

"Kyo wasn't exaggerating about the hair," Yuki said under his breath as Hatori excused himself to check on the infant.

"He didn't come up here with you?" Kazuma asked.

"No, Sensei. He stayed back."

Kazuma let out a sigh. "I expected as much." The pair watched silently as Hatori walked over to examine the small boy. "Did you know he asked me to call you?"

Yuki couldn't help but look at his martial arts master in shock. Despite the fact that he and Kyo had stopped fighting one another, and had even sort of become friendly with one another in recent years, he was surprised to hear it nonetheless.

"His words to me were, let's see, how did he put it?" Kazuma continued on. "Oh yes. 'If it is what we fear, Yuki should know, so he and Machi can be prepared.'"

"Ky-Kyo said that?"

Kazuma nodded. "How far along is she? Five months?"

"Six," Yuki replied. "Tohru keeps saying she hopes our kids become best friends since they'll be so close in age."

The martial arts master gave a slight laugh. "And what does Kyo think about that?"

"The idiot. He keeps saying his kid is going to beat mine at everything," Yuki scoffed. "He even said they'll go to the same high school someday and his kid will beat mine for the position of student council president."

"Stranger things have happened," Kazuma said, thinking with a smile, _Like you two finally becoming friends_.

…

"Tohru?" Kyo edged his way into the room to find his wife standing at the window instead of resting on the hospital bed. He had never visited her in the hospital after the landslide accident, so this whole event had him feeling weakened by his inexperience and inability to help her. "Should you be out of bed?"

"Hatori said it would be good for me to get up a move around a bit." She flashed him that special smile, the one that was only for him, but somehow it didn't make him feel better. Something was stirring inside, and he couldn't quite get a handle on it. "Did you go home and check on the dojo? Your students must be really worried."

Always putting others first. "No, I stayed. I couldn't leave you and..."

"Kyo, are you-"

Tohru could not finish her sentence. Just hearing her say his name was enough to send him over the edge. For the first time since proclaiming his love for her and the ending of the zodiac curse, he broke down in tears. No longer able to stand, he collapsed to his hands and knees and allowed his forehead touching the cool floor.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Kyo?"

Her arms wrapped around him, which only made him feel worse. She shouldn't be the one comforting him, not when… this was his fault after all.

"I'm sorry," he repeated over and over again as the tears fell. "I'm sorry."

When he had nearly exhausted himself, he heard the sweetest voice say to him, "I love you, Kyo. Together we are invincible."

He laughed through his tears as she reminded him of their words so long ago. "There's nothing to be scared of… not as long as I have you." Pushing himself up into a kneeling position, he came face to face with his wife. "You shouldn't be down here!"

"Oh no, I'm fine, I-"

He wouldn't hear of it, and in one swift motion, he stood and scooped her up into his arms. Ever so gently, he deposited her onto the hospital bed, but before he could let her go, she tugged on his arm, silently telling him to stay. As carefully as he could, he joined her on the small bed, pulling her into his embrace.

"You know there's nothing you need to apologize for."

"But-"

"Listen," she interrupted. It was rare for her to do that, but he knew if she ever did, it was with good reason. "I was willing to accept everything before. If this is happening again, if our son is possessed, well that changes nothing. He will be loved."

"Not if… not if he's the cat."

"That didn't stop me from loving you, and you know that," she replied. "Kyo, what is this really about?"

Her question, so simple, made him peer into the core of his current worries. She was right; she had loved him unconditionally before. So what was he so scared of? Or who?

"I wasn't ready," he replied to both her question and his own. "I wasn't ready to be a dad."

"But you told me, when we decided to start trying-"

"I know," he said, giving her shoulder a small squeeze of reassurance. "I know what I said. It isn't that I don't want a child with you. It's that I didn't think about being a father… or having a son. And when he came out, when I saw that orange head of hair, every fear I had locked away came flooding back. What if… what if I become my father?"

She held him tightly. "Shishou is a wonderful man. Our son will be very lucky to have both him and you as role models."

"No, not him. I mean my real father. I was just a kid, I couldn't understand how he emotionally abused me and my mother. His hate, his anger, I absorbed it and turned it back on everything and everyone in my way. How do we know I won't..."

His tears were cried out, but he couldn't complete his thought. It was too horrible to comprehend. In her ever gentle way, Tohru said nothing at first, only placing her hand on his face to comfort him.

"We don't have to become our parents, Kyo," she said softly. "If we did, I'd have become a member of a biker gang." He furrowed his brow a little at the thought of his sweet, soft-spoken wife in a gang. "Anyway, if you're afraid, so am I, but that's okay. We have a white belt in parenting, but we'll get better and better. We'll learn how to do this together." Kyo laughed, and she looked at him with a puzzled look. "Was something I said wrong? Oh! Did I mess up the belt colors again?"

"No," he said as he kissed the top of her head. "It just reminded me of some advice Shigure gave me a long time ago." With a deep breath, he told her, "Okay. I can do this. I'm ready… whenever you want, I'll take you up to see him. Our son."

His heart fluttered to see her face light up in a smile. "Then let's go, together."

Hand-in-hand, he walked her slowly to the elevator, and then to the NICU where they were greeted by Kazuma and Yuki. After excited greetings with careful hugs, with Kyo watching her every move, they all turned their attention to the window.

Hatori wrapped his stethoscope around his neck as he finished his examination. Upon making eye contact with the four of them, he said something to the nurse, who nodded and headed for the door.

"Dr. Sohma wanted me to ask if the parents would like to hold their son."

Kyo let out a gasp and felt the fear rushed over him again. It lasted only seconds, for when he felt the warm hand of his wife give his own a gentle squeeze and a pat on his back from Shishou, he remembered he wasn't alone. Even if the baby transformed into… that. They would do this together.

Gently, he guided her into the room where they both had to put on special, sterile garments.

Hatori held the small boy, who made a sweet cooing sound. "Tohru, are you ready?"

"No," she replied unexpectedly, surprising both the doctor and her husband when she shook her head. "Kyo first."

"But…" Kyo protested. "I-"

"Before we know for sure if there is a curse, you should hold him. We don't know what his life holds for him, so we shouldn't start his life viewing him with relief or sadness. We should accept him for what he is and can be."

So wise. Hesitantly, he nodded and took a deep breath. With arms outstretched, he barely noticed the weight of the boy as he was deposited in his embrace. Time seemed to stop as he stared at the tiny face of the baby. His eyes were closed but he gave a tiny coo that melted the ice around Kyo's heart.

"My son?" he whispered more to himself than the others. Looking down at the tiny life in his hands, he wasn't sure what to say, but the words suddenly found him. "Hi. I'm your dad." He stared at the small baby before figuring out the best way to reassure everyone, including himself, that he could do this. "I'm not a perfect man, but I love your mother with everything I am, and I can promise you this: I will love you for my whole life. I give you my word. A man's promise."

He bent down and lightly pressed a kiss on his son's forehead. Feeling himself begin to shake slightly, he looked to his wife for help. She knew what he needed; she always seemed to know. Her fingers gently touched his arm, but she only did it to let him know she was there.

"We can do this, Kyo."

With a nod, he began to slowly lower the boy into her waiting arms. He couldn't breathe, couldn't let go, worried that the baby would suddenly transform into a kitten in his mother's arms. Or something much worse...

"Kyo, look!"

He stared, trying to comprehend everything he was seeing. Or, in fact, wasn't seeing.

There was no ginger kitten. There was no monster.

There was just his baby boy.

"He's smiling," she whispered excitedly. "Look!"

He marveled at his wife for the thousandth time that day. Never once had she worried about anything but the baby's health. For the first time it occurred to him that she could give birth to all thirteen members of the Chinese zodiac and she would love them all. Thirteen children… what the hell was he thinking? Suddenly feeling overwhelmed, he needed to sit on the chair beside her. One baby was enough for now.

He looked at Hatori, who gave him a nod. "I'll give you a moment together. Would you like me to give the others an update?"

"Yes please, Hatori," Tohru replied. "Would it be okay… Can they come in as well?"

The NICU nurse cleared her throat, but Hatori held up his hand. "Just this once," he told her. "I'll be right back."

When they were alone, Kyo was entranced by the sight of his wife holding their son. All they had been through, the obstacles they had overcome, suddenly it all meant nothing if this was their reward.

"Did you hear me, Kyo?" Tohru whispered, snapping him from the spell.

"Hm? What?"

"I asked you what you thought we should name him."

"Oh. Well we picked a girl's name, but I guess we never discussed what it would be if we had a boy." He pondered for a moment, and suggested, "What about your father's name?"

Tohru shook her head. "It would be too strange if we had a girl named after my mother."

"True," he said with a nod.

"What about naming him after Shishou?" she offered

"Hm... I think there's someone else who has meant a lot to both of us. What was your grandfather's name?"

Her eyes lit up. "That's perfect!"

…

As Hatori reentered with Kazuma and Yuki, they were immediately forced to put on the sterile gowns. As soon as the process was over, they walked over to find Kyo's eyes filled with love as he stared at the babe in his wife's arms.

"Shishou! Yuki!" Tohru said as she turned the baby slightly to present him. "I'd like you to meet our son. Hajime."

"Hajime?" Kazuma said. "Like the martial arts command to begin?"

Kyo nodded. "Well, yes, but more than that, it's an important family name. This child is the beginning for me and Tohru: it's the beginning of our family, the beginning of a new banquet."

Kazuma smiled. "It's a wonderful name."

"We are glad you like it," Tohru said happily. "Would you like to hold him, Shishou? You are his grandfather after all."

"Grandfather?" Unlike Kyo, Kazuma had long considered this reality, but to hear himself called this was no less surprising. "I would be honored."

After handing her son over, she looked to Yuki, who had only stood by watched quietly. "Is something the matter?"

Yuki shook his head. "Nothing is the matter. I was only thinking how disappointed Shigure will be that it wasn't named after him." He smiled at her as she turned back to Sensei and the baby, but he couldn't suppress the sudden twinge of jealousy he felt.

There was a hand on his shoulder, and when he looked up, he found his orange-haired cousin beside him.

"Yuki," Kyo began, "I… uh… I just wanted you to know I'll be there for you… when your baby is born, I'll wait with you as long as it takes."

Yuki's shocked expression shifted into a smile. "Thank you, Kyo. And thanks for having Sensei call me." Kyo started to protest, but Yuki wouldn't let him speak. "He already told me. Thank you for caring about my family."

Kyo shrugged his shoulders but couldn't stop himself from giving a half smile. "You know… when I busted through the roof to fight you, I didn't have a plan for what I'd do if I failed. Or if I succeeded," he added with a laugh. "It was a tough road, but I'm glad everything worked out the way it did. I just thought you should know that."

He walked away, leaving Yuki behind in shock, but it didn't last long. Becoming an adult, marriage, now fatherhood… some part of Kyo that had been hidden away had been set free, and he now seemed at peace. As he watched the happy new family smiling together, he could only think to wish them all the joy in the world. And as he was handed the small baby, his first words to the newest Sohma were, "Welcome to the banquet, Hajime."


End file.
